Packed lunch ideas for my rather fussy 7 year old (lentil-weavers may wish to avert their eyes)

[WigWamBam]

I have lentil-weaverish tendencies but my daughter does not share them!

She starts having packed lunches this week and I am struggling for ideas for things to put in them. She'll have some salad and fruit, it's the sandwiches and stuff I'm struggling with.

She will only eat cheese if it's cooked. The only cold meat she will eat is gammon - and only then if I roast it myself. She'll eat Billy Bear meat (don't tell me it's crap; I know it's crap but it is at least crap that she will eat rather than leave in the box and go hungry), and cold bacon with lettuce. She'll have cold sausages or sausage rolls (yes, I know) and I make little egg and cheese flan things which she would eat cold ... and that's about it.

She won't eat humous or pasta salads, so they are off the list as well. She won't eat eggy sandwiches either. And I don't want to put things in her box knowing that she won't eat them. So what can I give her? There must be something I've missed ... any suggestions would be very gratefully received. Am quite happy to cook stuff myself.

She used to eat anything I put in front of her once upon a time ...

quiche?
cold pizza?

(perhaps both homemade to help lentil-weaving tendencies)

ds loves roast peppers onion ane hummous wraps

dd will on the other hand eat mexican chicken and sour cream wraps

Why are sausage rolls so bad? Or cold sausages, even. Would sausage rolls be ok to you if you made them yourself? (surprisingly easy, I've found out).
My DC have butter sandwiches most days (is this out for you?)
Actually, they have almost the same lunch day in day out & are happy with it.
Sounds like you are aiming for variety, when your DD would be quite happy (& healthy, even) with a rather more limitd lunch menu.

It's expensive feeding my brood.... ds is a lentil-weaver born and bred, dd is anti anything green or healthy, and I'm on slimming world....

tuna and mayo wraps?
dry cereal?
cheese twists?
bagels with cream cheese with bacon bits?

I would just give her the same things from the small repertoire she will eat...and then one day she will come home and say she wants somethng she has seen other kids have. Cold bacon and lettuce sandwiches sound fine, as do sausage sandwiches and the little flans.

Will she eat a tuna sandwich? Egg? Cold fish finger? Oat biscuits? Cheese straws? Cold pizza? Marmite sandwiches?

It's just lunch - she can have a good breakfast and cooked tea to achieve nutrition, balance and lentil-weaver cred.

Hmm, cold pizza might be a goer. She won't eat peppers, but I wonder if there's anything else I could put into a wrap? She might like the idea of a wrap - it's just what to put into it!

The sausage roll thing is just a MN joke, lljkk! At least they wouldn't be Greggs ...

I'm aiming for variety, yes; something which isn't pork would be good! I also want to get her to at least try some new things and this seemed as good a place to ask as any.

Lunavix, your family sounds nearly as awkward as mine; dd is very fussy, dh a confirmed meat-eater, I'm veggie.

I'm dreading my ds starting f/t school for similar reasons WWB!

If your dd will eat gammon would she try ham sandwiches? Or just pieces of ham with carrots sticks, cherry tomatoes etc? Or crackers, maybe with cheese and/or ham, mini pork pies?

Cold sausages or sausage rolls are absolutely fine imo.

ham and mayo wrap? with some salad?
how about bacon and lettuce wrap?

if my two are stressing me out they get cream crackers for a few days which they consider a real treat!

No fish at all, Blu. In fact, the list of things she won't eat gets longer every week. Cheese straws and oat biscuits she likes though ...

It's odd, she eats quite well otherwise - hot food is much less problematic. It's just cold stuff. And you're right, I guess; it's just lunch.

She won't eat ham, Mercy (no, I don't get it either!).

cream cheese and grape sandwiches?
peanut butter?
cold chicken?( drumsticks ? )

No, she won't eat cold chicken. Or cheese of any description unless it's cooked (I'm with her on that one!).

Peanut butter would be OK but they aren't allowed anything with peanuts in their lunchboxes because of children with allergies.

My ds used to have cold toasted cheese and cold eggybread for packed lunches when he was at preschool. Bleurgh I know, but he liked it...

I've considered giving her cold cheese on toast, TFM! If I get desperate I might even do it ...

Another MN thread that thoroughly confuses me, is it the culture gap?
Why say you only have lentil-weaver "tendencies" if you get embarrassed bout saying your child will only eat sausage rolls in their lunch?

How come (almost) everybody in real life puts crisps in their child's lunch box but (almost) nobody on MN will confess to doing it?

I tried cream cheese in DS packed lunch once -- he said the other children made fun of him for having something so weird!

It's not really that different to cold pizza....is how I rationalised it anyway

God knows what grief DS would get if he turned up for school dinner with a tortilla sandwich...

Sounds a reasonable choice, really. I bet there are far, far worse eaters.

The baby-weaning veggie burgers are brilliant for older childrens/ adults lunch boxes (made of any vegetable you like, cheese and breadcrumbs, recipe if sounds useful?).

DD (much younger, but still) eats stuffed potato skins cold, I'm not the greatest fan, but my sister loves them cold too, so maybe I'm the strange one.

Who said I was embarrassed, lljkk? I'm not embarrassed at all - sausage rolls are just right up there with Fruit Shoots in the MN stakes, and I was trying to keep my OP light-hearted. Particularly as I was sworn at a few days ago for saying that my daughter eats Billy Bear meat.

I mentioned the lentil-weavery thing because some of the MNers who "know" me will also know of my slightly hippy lentil-weavery tendencies ... I was making fun of myself very slightly.

I am not at all embarrassed of my daughter's choices in food; I would just like to find some other things she might like to eat. That's all.

Definitely just like cold pizza, TFM

I like cold cheese on toast.

Will she do dairylea or philadelphia?

How about cheese scones?

Oh, I hadn't thought about veggie burgers, pudding ... I like that as an idea.

Thank you all.

Cheese scones might be OK as well ... she wouldn't touch Philly or Dairylea though.

And she used to be so easy to cater for ...

potato salad?
bean salad?
cold omelette or tortilla wedge?
home made veg crisps, maybe with a dip?
hard boiled eggs? (I know you said she didn't like eggy sandwiches, but sometimes the things separately might be acceptable?)
have you tried quorn meat? It is quite processed, but kind of bland so children often like it
I don't know whether better or worse than Billy Bear
ditto Quorn sausages
mini pizzas? quite healthy if home made

does she like any pates or spreads?